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Woman struggled with post-cancer image until clothier changed her life

By Aimee Heckel Camera staff writer

Posted:
03/02/2013 01:00:00 AM MST

Updated:
03/18/2013 03:39:20 PM MDT

Nici Davis wants "to show the world a different face of cancer." (Jessica Cuneo/For the Camera)

'The four No's':

Margaret Style Rules

Fashion suggestions, according to Margaret Miner, owner of Rags. Of course, rules are made to be broken, so it ultimately depends on your individual style and body.

For people older than 40, sometimes older than 30:

No clothing that ties in the back

No empire-waist anything

No puffed short sleeves

No bedazzled jean pockets.

The makeovers

Rags' style suggestions for the women who have received makeovers there:

* For 20-year-old Maria: More youthful colors and cuts, skinny jeans, low boots to show off her long legs, layers of nubby sweaters and satiny tops.

* For 40-something Heather: Margaret got rid of her drapey clothes, which made her look shorter. She layered dark jeans with a short-sleeve, cotton coral blouse and a sweater and short boots. She spiced it up with a hot pink short coat.

* For 40-something Jeanette, identified as outdoorsy and Eddie Bauer-esque: Margaret replaced her running clothes with a short wool skirt with tights and boots, black leggings with flats and sparkly tops.

* For 30-something Nici: Margaret replaced her pajama-style clothes with three new pairs of jeans, including a pair of gray cords; tall black boots with edgy, lace-up backs; and mix-and-match solid-colored tops, that moved from plain and ordinary to fashionable by their fresh and contemporary cuts and high-quality, wearable fabric.

Nici Davis, 34, feels like a new woman. She looks like one, too.

Not the scar on her chest just below her right shoulder. That's barely noticeable, even though she admits she has felt self-conscious about it. The scar is a forever reminder -- not that she fought cancer, but that she beat it.

The Erie woman stands in a Boulder consignment store, Rags, looking at herself in the mirror. She's wearing her new gray Free People cords.

Davis was one of a handful of local women recently picked for a beginning-of-the-year wardrobe makeover by Rags owner Margaret Miner.

"I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years in a big way," she says.

On Jan. 4 on Facebook, Miner posted:

We're dying to do some head to toe makeovers... any takers? We'll be kind. And attentive. Come on...

The first 11 women who responded won: $150 in store credit, a personal consultation and a free brow wax at ten20 Spa.

A newly divorced 40-year-old entrepreneur. A size-14 woman who is feeling frumpy. A busy mother of three who is stuck in the typical "mommy uniform" of jeans, a T-shirt and clogs -- "Not that I need a makeover or anything," she writes.

Late that night, Davis was wedding-dress shopping with a friend. She flipped on Facebook and saw the solicit. On a whim, at 10:03 p.m., Davis wrote:

If you are still taking names, I'm in!

Davis knew something was wrong. For four years, doctor after doctor told her it was related to pregnancy or giardia.

She was too young for colon cancer. Too fit, healthy and active.

Finally, one doctor took a colonoscopy and found a 1-inch polyp. It was cancerous. She was diagnosed in October 2011 and received chemotherapy and radiation for a year.

But unlike breast cancer, Davis did not lose her hair, gain weight or need surgery to remove anything external. When people looked at her, they would never know what was going on inside her.

"When I would say I had cancer, it was kind of a slap in the face, almost like I wanted to lose my hair so people knew how sick I was. I wanted understanding," she says.

She began wearing baggy clothes to hide beneath.

"No style, just cover me up as much as you possibly can," she says.

When she looked in the mirror, all she saw was the "death face," she says.

Her treatment ended, but she did not move past the sweatpants and baggy T-shirts. Her body was cancer free, but she was still dressing as if she was going through chemotherapy.

It was difficult to ask for help, even just the small sentence she posted on Facebook for the makeover. Davis says she had always been the caretaker, the rock.

"For me to not be that and have to rely on everyone else and then drop all the baggage I was carrying for them and let them carry some of mine -- that was really difficult," she says.

Beyond getting stylish clothes that were also comfortable, Davis says it was surprisingly freeing to put herself out there to be helped. Asking for and accepting help can be tough when you're in a dark spot, she says.

"Everyone has some hardship, everyone has something. It's easy in life to just crawl into that dark hole. It can take over your life," Davis says. "But I don't want to go into that dark hole. I don't want to live that way. Whenever you're stuck, try to figure a way out of it."

Some of Davis' new tops have lace and crochet detailing to draw the eyes away from her port scar. Others are cut low enough to show it.

"I'm starting to realize I don't really care. It's part of my story," she says.

She stands in front of the mirror at Rags and flashes the edgy, lace-up backs of her black flat boots.

"I am not the death face," she says. "I want to show the world a different face of cancer."

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